Lanzarote’s wine harvest in late June and July is claimed to be the earliest in Europe, but Bodega El Grifo have jumped the gun by six months again with the gathering of grapes for their winter vintage.
The first winter harvest took place last year, as part of a detailed experiment to discover whether it would be possible, and the results were so successful that the experiment has been repeated this year.
The harvest is brought forward by pruning the vines earlier, which encourages them to grow. The bodega’s experts believed that cooler weather would produce grapes that require less water and are less likely to over-ripen. They also started the project as a way of taking advantage of climate change.
Last year, 5,000 kilos of grapes grown in various locations resulted in 3,600 bottles. The wine was described as “fresh, with notes of orange blossom, talcum powder and apricot and a touch of the Atlantic”.
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